<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>those signals that you’re mixing by cori_the_bloody</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29620566">those signals that you’re mixing</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/cori_the_bloody/pseuds/cori_the_bloody'>cori_the_bloody</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Never Have I Ever (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Ficlet, Post-Season/Series 01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 17:48:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>548</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29620566</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/cori_the_bloody/pseuds/cori_the_bloody</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“I need to have a serious conversation with you, so I wouldn’t have gotten drunk,” he says, persistent.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>“Guess you’re not drunk, then, genius.”</i>
</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ben Gross/Devi Vishwakumar</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>69</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>those signals that you’re mixing</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Devi barely even blinks when Ben slips into Zoe Maytag’s walk-in pantry behind her.</p>
<p>“You’ve been avoiding me,” he says, voice low.</p>
<p>“Obviously not well enough.” She turns her phone flashlight on and starts scanning the shelves for pretzels, crackers…anything that could help settle Eleanor’s stomach.</p>
<p>He tuts at her. “You claim to be smart, and yet you really haven’t caught on, huh?”</p>
<p>“Dude,” she snaps, turning the flashlight beam on him. He flinches, squinting. “I don’t have the fucks to spare or the time to speak in tongues with you right now, so just spit it out.”</p>
<p>“Well, if you wanted to make out, you could have just said so,” he says, reaching blindly for her.</p>
<p>“Oh, my god,” Devi says, and she lets the hand holding her phone fall to her side as she realizes something. “You are some kind of sloppy right now.”</p>
<p>“Um, I’m not,” Ben says, swaying a little.</p>
<p>She knocks his fumbling hand away with a snicker. “Clearly.”</p>
<p>“I need to have a serious conversation with you, so I wouldn’t have gotten drunk,” he says, persistent.</p>
<p>“Guess you’re not drunk, then, genius.”</p>
<p>“Exactly, thank you.”</p>
<p>With a grudging smile working its way onto her face, she takes a step closer to him, nudging him in the thigh with her knee. “What haven’t I caught onto?”</p>
<p>With the only source of light being the phone at Devi’s side, both their faces are cast in long shadows—but Devi can still see Ben’s eyes fall to her lips as she steps closer. “Huh?”</p>
<p>Smirking, she leans in until her mouth’s at his ear. “You know, you’re pretty fun when you’re desperate for my attention.”</p>
<p>She feels a hot breath whoosh out of him. And then, in a soundless voice, he says, “Must be a barrel of laughs, then.”</p>
<p>She <em>hmm</em>s, and then withdraws to look him in the eyes, an eyebrow arched. “What was it you said about a serious conversation?”</p>
<p>His nostrils flare. “What was it you said about tongues?”</p>
<p>She wets her lips, watching him as he watches her do it, and then turns away from him completely, back to scanning the shelf with her flashlight. “Later, Gross. I have somewhere else to be.”</p>
<p>He groans. “You better mean that ‘later’.”</p>
<p>Devi pops up onto her tip-toes to snag a bag of oyster crackers off a high shelf. “And you better drink some water, lightweight.”</p>
<p>“Can’t believe Coyote Girl is trying to counsel me on best drinking practices,” he says, and then hesitates a second before stepping out of her way.</p>
<p>She rolls her eyes at him, pausing with her hand on the knob. “Every now and then you should try giving me a reason to show up for the <em>later</em>. Just a tip.”</p>
<p>His eyes suddenly flash bright and sharp in the darkness. “I’m not worried. This—” He gestures between them. “—Whatever happens here. It’s unavoidable.”</p>
<p>“Oh yeah,” she says, opening the door then and flooding the closet with the sounds of the party. “You’re <em>obviously</em> the poster boy for unworried.”</p>
<p>His cry of protest is drowned out by her slipping out into the chaos of the party and tugging the pantry door shut behind her.</p>
<p>She hopes he’s not too drunk to notice that, technically, she didn’t disagree.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>